Well that was the longest/ shortest time! It’s both hard to remember life before Nadia and it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital and then taking her to daycare for the first time. So much change in one year. If I had to describe Nadia these days in one word, I would describe her as busy! It feels like if she is awake, she is probably in motion– crawling, pulling up to standing, and recently walking along the length of a coffee table. She is so curious to understand her world. She loves climbing into the refrigerator, closets, finding cords we didn’t effectively baby-proof, and pulling out ALL THE WIPES. A patient at work said “Gosh, I hate to insult you, but she sounds like my cat.” Yes she does act like a cat, and a very cute one at that.
She loves to babble and it seems like she can say dada, mama, and hi. Waving both hello and goodbye bring her so much joy! She really is a ham for getting attention from her favorite people. She still freezes up in big groups of people, especially if heaven forbid mom or dad isn’t around. It is nice that most mornings I can drop her off at daycare without tears anymore (that phase lasted a few months and made me feel so lousy driving off to work). She is always excited to crawl to the door during afternoon pickup. Overall, she is a social butterfly (but also fiercely attached to “her people”– mom, dad, daycare teachers).
Around 6 months I purchased several Montessori inspired materials (object permanent box, egg-in-cup puzzles, simple shape puzzles, Pinkler triangle, etc.). It has been so neat to watch the way she plays with these items change. Now she’s mastered the object permanent box and will place the red ball and clap for herself when it comes out at the bottom– Around 6/7 month she simply picked up the red ball to chew, at 8/9 months she would throw the ball across the room. It’s just amazing to see her brain learn a concept and her fine/ gross motor skills develop to support the new skill. She is definitely making an effort to climb her Pinkler triangle too– that’s going to be nice when we’re stuck indoors this winter.
We celebrated Nadia’s first birthday on Saturday with family and a few close friends: both grandparents, the Westers, Brett & Emily, Melissa, Ryan & Oliver, Emily, and Anna. It was so special to celebrate little miss Nadia. Her party had a One-toberfest theme and I really had fun finding a dirndl for Nadia to wear and looking up German recipes for lunch. Honestly, the whole thing was so cute we’re tempted to bring it back for two-toberfest next year! On Nadia’s actual birthday we walked around Swan Lake in Byrd Park, as that was the walk that finally pushed me into labor. We shared a cupcake in the park, but Nadia honestly wasn’t very interested– she was much more excited to eat sausage, pretzel, and German potato salad we had for dinner!
Some favorites from this month:
-Standing and trying to walk! Nadia still needs support to stand, but whenever she can she finding a way to pull up to standing. I really don’t think it will be much longer until she is walking.
-She really likes trust falls– she seems to really enjoy the sensation of falling (which is terrifying to me as her mother). Nadia loves to climb up to standing in her crib and then throw herself back– when she starts doing that it’s usually a good clue she wasn’t actually ready for bed.
-Playing in the “Big Tub”– Nadia finally graduated this month into the big pink tub. She had started to get grouchy in her whale tub and it turns out she was simply ready for more space. She really loves splashing in the tub, and on at least three occasions this month she’s also decided it’s a good place to poop. We’re really hoping this trend doesn’t continue.
-“Mmm” Nadia is really enjoying talking more– she says “Mmm” for emphasis and “Ahh” after taking a satisfying sip of water. It’s exciting to think about all the new words and sounds she will learn over this next year.
Recapping this first year:
-Nadia wears size 4 diapers and 12 months clothing– she’s stayed pretty true to Carter’s sizing throughout this first year. She’s such a tall, skinny girl!
-Nadia is not even CLOSE to “sleeping through the night”– she still needs to wake every 2-3 hours to make sure her “people” are still there. She starts sleeping in the pack-n-play in our room and usually moves to our bed with her first wake after I’m in bed. Honestly, I don’t hate it- there are worst things than waking up next to a beautiful, healthy baby girl. One day she won’t need us so much and this is a short part of our relationship.
-She has been exclusively breastfed her first year! I’m so proud of myself that we were always able to work through our nursing challenges. Going in, I had no idea what a challenge this would be. I also didn’t realize that I might not be “finished” at a year. I’m looking forward to wean off pumping during the workday over the next couple of months, but I have no plans to stop nursing when we’re together. Naturally, Nadia is losing a lot of interest in daytime feeds as she has a good healthy appetite for solid foods.
-Nadia is a joy to feed! She has a wider palate that many adults I know. She eats tangy potato salad with mustard, chili, thai curry, eggs, pasta, meat of all kinds, and the list goes on. She’s a total poster child for baby-led weaning!
-She’s totally a pandemic baby- we have kept her world as small as possible (while still working and needing to use childcare). She’s still never been to a grocery store, indoor restaurant, or met many family and friends. We made a lot of sacrifices to shelter her to the best of our ability from COVID-19. I’m hopeful we can keep her healthy until a vaccine is available to her age group.
-She loves to be comforted with music and being rocked. My go-to lullabies for Nadia are “Edelweiss,” “Two of Us” by the Beatles, and “Father and Daughter” by Paul Simon (although I always say Mother when I’m singing).
I probably forgot to capture many other special moments from this month and Nadia’s first year, but I think you get the sense that she is well-loved and that we all survived this wild year!
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